Memphitz Speaks on His Recent Arrest

As previously reported, Memphitz—producer, Sony executive and husband of BET reality-show star Toya Carter—was arrested earlier this week after a firearm was found in his luggage as he attempted to clear airport security in Atlanta. Memphitz, born Mickey Wright, recently called into “The Frank & Wanda Show” on Atlanta’s V103 FM to explain the incident.

”I’m embarrassed about it…” he said. “It’s not something I’m going around parading about. It really was a simple mistake…it was a big mistake.

“I have a license,” he continued. “It’s just for protection and self-defense only, to protect my family... I’m not driving around like a hoodlum out there. I usually have it locked up in the house or in my car when I’m traveling. So I took it out of my car and put it my backpack and put it in the house. I hadn’t traveled in a week or so, and me and my wife were…headed to the Magic show in Las Vegas. We were rushing like, ‘I can’t miss this flight.’ So I picked up my computer and my bag and just went to the airport."

“First of all, I would’ve never pushed my bag through the scanner," he continued. "I’ve been traveling too long and I’ve transported guns before. Somebody was like, ‘Somebody got a gun; it’s a gun in this bag.’ I was looking around like, ‘What fool brought a gun?’ and Toya was looking at me like, ‘It’s in your bag.’ ‘No, it’s not.’ Then I started remembering and I was like ‘oh no’… I told [Toya] she could go ahead and go to Las Vegas. She said, “I’m not leaving you.’ I love my wife.”

When co-host Wanda Smith told Memphitz that she was “disappointed” in him, he responded, “I usually don’t ever say ‘never’ but it will never happen again. That ain’t even my character. My whole life I’ve been on a straight path…”

He also mentioned how the incident will affect his job as senior VP of A&R at Sony Jive: “I still have to handle this with my job… I don’t know how they’re feeling about the situation. It was a misdemeanor. The judge told me she understood my situation so I just told her, ‘It will never happen again.’ That’s not who I am, that’s not what I put out there. I put out positivity, motivation, making sure kids is on the right path, and that’s what I’m about."